The Former Philippines Thru Foreign Eyes · Chapter 32State of the Philippines in 1810 (2)
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Copper.Well-founded reasons exist for presuming that, in the Province of Ilocos, mines of virgin copper exist, a singular production of nature, or at least, not very common, if the generality of combinations under which this metal presents itself in the rest of the globe, are duly considered. This is partly inferred from the circumstance of its having been noticed that the Igorots, who occasionally come down from the mountains to barter with the Christians, use certain coarse jars or vessels of copper, evidently made by themselves with the use of a hammer, without any art or regularity; and as the ignorance of these demi-savages is too great for them to possess the notions necessary for the separation of the component parts which enter into the combination of minerals, and much less for the construction of furnaces suitable to the smelting and formation of the moulds, it is concluded they must have found some vein of copper entirely pure, which, without the necessity of any other preparation, they have been able to flatten with the hammer and rendered maleable, so as to convert it into the rough vessels above spoken of.
Cinnabar.The district-magistrate of Caraga, Don Augustin de Ioldi, received a special commission from the government to explore and obtain information respecting a mine of cinnabar, which was said to be situated under his jurisdiction; and I have been informed of another of the same species in the Island of Samar, the working of which has ceased for a considerable time, not because the prospect was unfavorable, but for the want of an intelligent person to superintend and carry on the operations. The utility of such a discovery is too obvious not to deserve, on the part of government, the most serious attention and every encouragement to render it available; and it is to be hoped that, as the first steps have already been taken in this important disclosure, the enterprise will not be abandoned, but, on the contrary, that exertions will be made to obtain aid and advice from the Miners’ College of Mexico, as the best means of removing doubt, and acting with judgment in the affair.
Iron.Iron in mineral form is to be found at various points on Luzon, and those engaged in working it, without the necessity of digging; collect the iron-bearing stones that constitute the upper stratum, these, when placed in fusion, generally yield about forty per cent clear metal. This is the case in the mountains of Angat, situated in the Province of Bulacan, and also in the vicinity of the Baliwag River. In Morong, however, belonging to the Province of La Laguna, where the cannon-ball factory is established, the ore yields under twenty-two per cent. Its quality is in general better than the Biscayan iron, according to formal experiments and a report, made in 1798 to Governor Don Rafael Maria de Aguilar, by two Biscayan master-smiths from the squadron of Admiral Alava. Witnesses to this test were the Count de Aviles and Don Felix de la Rosa, proprietors of the mines of Morong and Angat, and the factor of the Philippine Company, Don Juan Francisco Urroroz. Notwithstanding its advantages, this interesting branch of industry has not yet passed beyond the most rude principles and imperfect practice, owing to the want of correct information as to the best process, and scarcity of funds on the part of the proprietors to carry on their works. Without the aid of rolling or slitting mills, indeed unprovided with the most essential instruments, they have hitherto confined themselves to converting their iron into plow shares, bolos, hoes, and such other agricultural implements; leaving the Chinese of Amoy in quiet possession of the advantages of being allowed to market annual supplies of all kinds of nails, the boilers used on the sugar plantations, pots and pans, as well as other articles in this line, which might easily be manufactured in the Islands.
Sulphur.In the Island of Leyte, abundance of sulphur is met with, and from thence the gunpowder works of Manila are supplied at very reasonable prices. Jaspers, cornelians and agates, are also found in profusion in many of these provinces; everything, indeed, promises varied mineral wealth worthy of exciting the curiosity and useful researches of mineralogists, who, unfortunately, have not hitherto extended their labors to these remote parts of the globe.
Pearls.Pearl fisheries are, from time to time, undertaken off the coast of the Island of Mindanao, and also near smaller islands not far from Cebu, but with little success and less constancy, not because there is a scarcity of fine pearls of a bright color and considerable size, but on account of the divers’ want of skill and their just dread of the sharks, which, in great numbers infest these seas. Amber is frequently gathered in considerable lumps in the vicinity of Samar and the other Visayan Islands as well as mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, and red and black coral, of the latter kind of which, I have seen shafts as thick as my finger and six or eight feet long.
Estates.The proprietors of estates in the Philippines are of four classes. The most considerable is that of the religious orders, Augustinians and Dominicans, who cultivate their respective lands on joint account, or let them out at a moderate ground-rent, which the planters pay in kind; but far from living in opulence, and accumulating the immense revenues some of the religious communities enjoy in America, they stand in need of all they earn and possess for their maintenance, and in order to be enabled to discharge the various duties and obligations annexed to the missions with which they are entrusted.
Spanish planters.The second class comprehends the Spanish proprietors, whose number possibly does not exceed a dozen of persons, and even they labor under such disadvantages, and have to contend with so many obstacles, under the existing order of things, that, compelled to divide their lands into rice plantations, in consequence of this being the species of culture to which the natives are most inclined, and to devote a considerable portion of them to the grazing of horned cattle, no one of them is in a situation to give to agriculture the variety and extent desired, or to attain any progress in a pursuit which in other colonies rapidly leads to riches.
Filipino farmers.The third consists of the principal mestizos and natives, and is in fact that which constitutes the real body of farming proprietors. In the fourth and last may be included all the other natives, who generally possess a small strip of land situated round their dwellings, or at the extremities of the various towns and settlements formed by the conquerors; besides what they may have obtained from their ancestors in the way of legal inheritance, which rights have been confirmed to them by the present sovereign of the colony.
Aids to agriculture.It will beyond doubt, in some measure dissipate the distrust by which the Filipino is actuated, when the new and paternal exertions of the superior government, to ameliorate his present situation, are fully known, and when that valuable portion of our distant population is assured that their rights will henceforth be respected, and those exactions and compulsory levies which formerly so much disheartened them, are totally abolished. On the other hand, a new stimulus will be given by the living example and fresh impulse communicated to the provinces by other families emigrating and settling there, nurtured in the spirit and principles of those reforms in the ideas and maxims of government by which the present era is distinguished. A practical participation in these advantages will, most assuredly, awaken a spirit of enterprise and emulation that may be extremely beneficial to agriculture, and as the wants of the natives increase in proportion as they are enabled to know and compare the comforts arising out of the presence and extension of conveniences and luxuries in their own towns, they will naturally be led to possess and adopt them.
Plans for progress.So salutary a change, however, can only be the work of time, and as long as the government confines itself to a system merely protecting, the effects must consequently be slow. As it is therefore necessary to put in action more powerful springs than the ordinary ones, it will be found expedient partly to relax from some of those general principles which apply to societies, differently constituted, or rather formed of other perfectly distinct elements. As relating to the subject under discussion, I fortunately discover two means, pointed out in the laws themselves, essentially just, and at the same time capable of producing in this populous colony, more than in any other, the desired results. The legislator, founding himself on the common obligation of the subject to contribute something in return for the protection he receives, and to co-operate in the increase of the power and opulence of the State, proscribes idleness as a crime, and points out labor as a duty; and although the regulations touching the natives breathe the spirit of humanity, and exhibit the wisdom with which they were originally formed, they nevertheless concur and are directed to this primary object. In them the distribution of vacant lands, as well as of the natives at fair daily wages to clear them, is universally allowed, and these it seems to me, are the means from an equitable and intelligent application of which the most beneficial consequences may be expected.
Confiscating unused lands.The first cannot be attended with any great difficulty, because all the provinces abound in waste and vacant lands, and scarcely is there a district in which some are not to be found of private property completely uncultivated and neglected, and consequently susceptible, as above stated, of being legally transferred, for this reason alone, to the possession of an active owner. Let their nature however, be what it may, in their adjudication, it is of the greatest importance to proceed with uniformity, by consecrating, in a most irrevocable manner, the solemnity of all similar grants. Public interest and reason, in the Philippine Islands, require that in all such cases deference only should be paid to demands justly interposed, and formally established within a due and fixed period; but after full and public notice has been given by the respective judicial authorities, of the titles about to be granted, the counter claims the natives may seek to put in after the lapse of the period prefixed, should be peremptorily disregarded. Although at first sight this appears a direct infringement on the imprescriptible rights of property, it must be considered that in some cases individual interests ought to be sacrificed to the general good, and that the balance used, when treating of the affairs of State, is never of that rigid kind as if applied to those of minor consideration. The fact is, that by this means many would be induced to form estates, who have hitherto been withheld by the dread of involving themselves, and spending their money in law suits; at the same time the natives, gradually accustoming themselves to this new order of things, would lay aside that disposition to strife and contention, which forms so peculiar a trait in their character, and that antipathy and odium would also disappear with which they have usually viewed the agricultural undertakings of Spaniards.
Compulsory labor.Proceeding to the consideration of the second means of accelerating the improvement of agriculture, viz., the distribution of the natives, it will suffice to say that it would be equally easy to show that it is absolutely necessary rigorously to carry into effect, in the Philippine Islands, whatever the laws on this subject prescribed, otherwise we must give up all those substantial hopes entertained of the felicity of the colony. We are no longer in a situation to be restricted to the removal of ordinary obstacles, and the season is gone by in which, as heretofore, it entered into our policy to employ no other than indirect stimulants—in order to incline the Filipino to labor. It is evident that admonitions and offers of reward no longer suffice; nor indeed have the advantageous terms proposed to them by some planters, with a view to withdraw the lower orders of the natives, such as the timauas and caglianes plebeians, from the idle indifference in which they are sunk, been of any avail. Their wants and wishes being easily supplied, the whole of their happiness seems to depend on quiet and repose, and their highest enjoyment on the pleasure of sleep. Energy, however, and a certain degree of severity must be employed, if permanent resources are to be called forth, and if the progressive settlement of European families and the formation of estates proportioned to the fertility of the soil and capabilities of the country are to enter into the views of government. In vain would grants and transfers of vacant and useless lands be made to new and enterprising proprietors, unless at the same time they can be provided with laborers, and experience every other possible facility, in order to clear, enclose, and cultivate them. Hence follows the indispensable necessity of appealing to the system of distributions, as above pointed out; for what class of laborers can be obtained in a country where the whites are so few, unless it be the natives? Should they object to personal service, should they refuse to labor for an equitable and daily allowance, by which means they would also cease to be burdens to the State and to society, are they not to be compelled to contribute by this means to the prosperity of which they are members; in a word, to the public good, and thus make some provision for old age? If the soldier, conveyed away from his native land, submits to dangers, and is unceasingly exposed to death in defence of the State, why should not the Filipino moderately use his strength and activity in tilling the fields which are to sustain him and enrich the commonwealth?
The undeveloped Philippines.Besides, things in the Philippine Islands wear a very different aspect to what they do on the American continent, where, as authorized by the said laws, a certain number of natives may be impressed for a season, and sent off inland to a considerable distance from their dwellings, either for the purpose of agriculture, or working the mines, provided only they are taken care of during their journeys, maintained, and the price of their daily labor, as fixed by the civil authorities, regularly paid to them. The immense valleys and mountains susceptible of cultivation, especially in the Island of Luzon, being once settled, and the facilities of obtaining hands increased, such legal acts of compulsion, far from being any longer necessary, will have introduced a spirit of industry that will render the labors of the field supportable and even desirable; and in this occupation all the tributary natives of the surrounding settlements can be alternately employed, by the day or week, and thus do their work almost at the door of their own huts, and as it were in sight of their wives and children.
No legal obstacle to forced labor.If, after what has been above stated, the apparent opposition obstacle to which at first sight strikes the eye, in Law 40, Title 12, Book 6, speaking on this subject, and expressly referring to the Philippine Islands, should be alleged, no more will be necessary than to study its genuine sense, or read it with attention, in order to be convinced of its perfect concordance with the essential parts of the other laws of the Indies, already quoted in explanation and support of the system of distributing the laborers. The above-mentioned law does indeed contain a strict recommendation to employ the Chinese and Japanese, not domiciliated, in preference to the natives, in the establishments for cutting timber and other royal works, and further enjoins that use is only to be made in emergencies, and when the preservation of the state should require it. It has, however, happened that, since the remote period at which the above was promulgated, not only all contracts and commerce have ceased, but also every communication with Japan has been interrupted, and for a number of years not a single individual of that ferocious race has existed in the Philippine Islands. With regard to the Chinese, who are supposed to be numerous in the capital, of late years they have diminished so much, that according to a census made by orders of the government in the year 1807, no more than four thousand seven hundred are found on the registers; and, if in consequence of their secreting themselves, or withdrawing into the interior, a third more might be added to the above amount, their total numbers would still remain very inconsiderable, and infinitely inferior to what is required, not only for the tillage of the estates, but even for the royal works.
Substitute laborers wanting.As, therefore, the Japanese have totally disappeared, and the number of Chinese is evidently inadequate to the wants of agriculture, it almost necessarily follows that the practice of distributing the Filipino laborers, as allowed by the aforesaid laws of the Indies, under all circumstances, is the only alternate left. Even if, against the adoption of this measure, it should be attempted to urge the ambiguous sense of the concluding part of the second clause, it would be easy to comprehend its true intent and meaning, by referring to Law 1, Title 13, Book 5, which says:
“That, considering the inconveniences which would arise from doing away with certain distributions of grounds, gardens, estates, and other plantations, in which the Indians are interested, as a matter on which the preservation of those distant dominions and provinces depends, it is ordained that compulsory labor, and such distributions as are advantageous to the public good, shall continue.”
After so pointed an explanation, and a manifestation so clear of the spirit of our legislation in this respect, all further comments would be useless, and no doubt whatever can be any longer entertained of the expediency, and even of the justice of putting the plan of well-regulated distributions in practice, as a powerful means to promote the agriculture, and secure to Spain the possession of these valuable dominions of the Indian Seas. ....
Manufactures..... It would be impossible to gainsay Don Juan Francisco Urroz, of the Philippine Company, in his detailed and accurate report to the managing committee in 1802, when he observes:
“That the Philippine Islands, from time immemorial, were acquainted with, and still retain, that species of industry peculiar to the country, adapted to the customs and wants of the natives, and which constitutes the chief branch of their clothing. This, although confined to coarse articles, may in its class be called perfect, as far as it answers the end for which it is intended; and if an attempt were made to enumerate the quantity of mats, handkerchiefs, sheeting, and a variety of other cloths manufactured for this purpose only in the Provinces of Tondo, Laguna, Batangas, Ilocos, Cagayan, Camarines, Albay, Visaya, etc., immense supplies of each kind would appear, which give occupation to an incalculable number of looms, indistinctly worked by Indians, Chinese, and Sangleyan mestizos, indeed all the classes, in their own humble dwellings, built of canes and thatched with palm leaves, without any apparatus of regular manufacture.”
Native cloth weaving.With equal truth am I enabled to add, that the natural abilities of these natives in the manufacture of all kinds of cloths, fine as well as coarse, are really admirable. They succeed in reducing the harsh filaments of the palm-tree, known by the name of abaca, to such a degree of fineness, that they afterwards convert them into textures equal to the best muslins of Bengal. The beauty and evenness of their embroideries and open work excite surprise; in short, the damask table-cloths, ornamental weaving, textures of cotton and palm-fibres, intermixed with silk, and manufactured in the above-mentioned provinces, clearly prove how much the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, in natural abilities and dexterity, resemble the other people of the Asiatic regions. It must nevertheless be allowed, that a want is noticed of that finish and polish which the perfection of art gives to each commodity; but this circumstance ought not to appear strange, if we consider that, entirely devoid of all methodical instruction, and ignorant also of the importance of the subdivision of labor, which contributes so greatly to simplify, shorten, and improve the respective excellence of all kinds of works, the same natives gin and clean the cotton, and then spin and weave it, without any other instruments than their hands and feet, aided only by the course and unsightly looms they themselves construct in a corner of their huts, with scarcely anything else than a few canes and sticks.
Aptitude for, but no development of, manufacturing.From the preceding observations it may easily be deduced that, although the natives succeed in preparing, with admirable dexterity, the productions of their soil, and therewith satisfy the greatest part of their domestic wants, facts which certainly manifest their talents and aptitude to be employed in works of more taste and delicacy, manufacturing industry is nevertheless far from being generalized, nor can it be said to be placed with any degree of solidity on its true and proper basis. Hence arise those great supplies of goods annually imported into the country, for the purpose of making up the deficiencies of the local manufactures.
Improved methods and machinery needed.The regular distribution or classification of the assemblage of operations which follow each other in graduation, from the rough preparation of the first materials, till the same have arrived at their perfect state of manufacture, instead of being practiced, is entirely unknown. The want of good machinery to free the cotton from the multitude of seeds with which it is encumbered, so as to perform the operation with ease and quickness, is the first and greatest obstacle that occurs; and its tediousness to the natives is so repugnant, that many sell their crops to others, without separating the seeds, or decline growing the article altogether, not to be plagued with the trouble of cleaning it. As the want of method is also equal to the superabundance or waste of time employed, the expenses of the goods manufactured increased in the same proportion, under such evident and great disadvantages; for which reason, far from being able to compete with those brought from China and British India, they only acquire estimation in the interior, when wanted to supply the place of the latter, or in cases of accidental scarcity.
Scanty exports.In a word, the only manufactured articles annually exported from the Philippine Islands are eight to twelve thousand pieces exports of light sail cloth, two hundred thousand pounds of abaca cordage assorted, and six hundred carabao hides and deer skins, which can scarcely be considered in a tanned state/ for, although the Royal Company, from the time of their establishment, long continued to export considerable quantities of dimities, calicos, stripes, checks, and coverlids, as well as other cotton and silk goods, it was more with a view to stimulate the districts of Ilocos to continue in the habit of manufacturing, and thus introduce among the inhabitants of that province a taste for industry, than the expectation of gain by the sale of this kind of merchandise either in Spain or any of the sections of America. At length, wearied with the losses experienced by carrying on this species of mercantile operations, without answering the principal object in view, they resolved, for the time being, to suspend ventures attended with such discouraging circumstances.
Need of encouragement.Notwithstanding so many impediments, it would not, however, be prudent in the government entirely to abandon the enterprise, and lose sight of the advantages the country offers, or indeed, to neglect turning the habitual facilities of the natives to some account. Far from there existing any positive grounds for despairing of the progress of manufacturing industry, it may justly be presumed that, whenever the sovereign, by adopting a different line of policy, shall allow the unlimited and indistinct settlement of all kinds of foreign colonists, and grant them the same facilities and protection enjoyed by national ones, they will be induced to flock to the Philippine Islands in considerable numbers, lured by the hope of accumulating fortunes in a country that presents a thousand attractions of every kind. Many, no doubt, will preferably devote themselves to commerce, others to agricultural undertakings and also to the pursuits of mining, but necessarily some will turn their attention and employ their funds in the formation of extensive manufactures, aided by intelligent instructors and suitable machinery. The newly-introduced information and arts being thus diffused, it is natural to expect they will be progressively adopted by a people already possessing a taste and genius for this species of labor, by which means manufacturing industry will soon be raised from the state of neglect and unprofitableness in which it is now left.
Internal commerce handicapped.The circulation of the country productions and effects of all kinds among the inhabitants of the provinces, which, properly speaking, constitutes their internal commerce, is tolerably active and considerable. Owing to the great facilities of conveyance afforded by the number of rivers and lakes, on the margins of which the Filipinos are fond of fixing their dwellings, this commerce might be infinitely greater, if it was not obstructed by the monopoly of the magistrates in their respective districts and the unjust prerogative, exercised by the city, of imposing rates and arbitrary prices on the very persons who come to bring the supplies. Nevertheless, as the iniquituous operations of the district magistrates, however, active they may be, besides being restricted by their financial ability, regularly consist of arrangements to buy up only the chief articles, and those which promise most advantage, with least trouble; as that restless inquietude which impels man on, under the hope of bettering his condition, acts even amidst rigor of oppression, a certain degree of stimulus and scope is still left in favor of internal trade.
Inter-island traffic.Hence it follows, that there is scarcely an island or province, that does not carry on some traffic or other, by keeping up relations with its neighbors, which sometimes extend as far as the capital; where, in proportion as the produce and raw materials find a ready market, returns suitable and adequate to the consumption of each place, respectively, are obtained. If, however, it would be difficult to form an idea, even in the way of approximation, of the exchanges which take place between the various provinces, a task that would render it necessary to enumerate them, one by one, it is equally so to make an estimate of the total amount of this class of operation carried on in Manila, their common center. Situated in the bottom of an immense bay, bathed by a large river, and the country round divided by an infinite number of streams and lakes descending from the provinces by which the capital is surrounded, the produce and effects are daily brought in and go out of suburbs so extended in a diversity of small vessels and canoes, without its being possible to obtain any exact account of the multiplicity of transactions carried on at one and the same time, in a city built on so large a scale.
Local markets.Besides the traffic founded on ordinary consumption, the necessity of obtaining assortments of home-manufactured as well as imported goods, in order to supply the markets, known by the name of tianguis, and which are held weekly in almost every town, there is another species of speculation, peculiar to the rich natives and Sangley mestizos, an industrious race, and also possessed of the largest portion of the specie. This consists in the anticipated purchase of the crops of indigo, sugar, rice, etc., with a view to fix their own prices on the produce thus contracted for, when resold to the second hand. A propensity to barter and traffic, in all kinds of ways, is indeed universal among the natives, and as the principal springs which urge on internal circulation are already in motion, nothing more is wanting than at once to destroy the obstacles previously pointed out, and encourage the extension of luxury and comforts, in order that, by the number of the people’s wants being increased, as well as the means of supplying them, the force and velocity of action may in the same proportion be augmented.
External commerce.Under “External Commerce” generally are comprised the relations the Philippine Islands keep up with other nations, with the Spanish possessions in America, and with the mother country; or, in other words, the sum total of their imports and exports.
Outside deterrents.Many are the causes which, within the last ten or twelve years, have influenced the mercantile relations of these Islands, and prevented their organization on permanent and known principles. The chief one, no doubt, has been the frequent and unforeseen changes, from peace to war, which have marked that unhappy period, and as under similar circumstances merchants, more than any other class of persons, are in the habit of acting on extremes, there have been occasions in which, misled by the exaggerated idea of the galleon of Acapulco, and anxious to avail themselves of the first prices, generally also the highest, foreign speculators have inundated Manila with goods, by a competition from all quarters; and others, owing to the channels being obstructed, when this market has experienced an absolute scarcity of commodities, as well as of funds necessary to continue the usual and almost only branch of commerce left. The frequent failure of the sugar and indigo crops, has also in many instances restrained the North Americans and other neutrals from coming to these Islands with cargoes, and induced them to prefer Java, where they are at all times sure of finding returns. Besides the influence of these extraordinary causes on the uncertainty and irregularity of external commerce, no small share must also be attributed to the strangeness of the peculiar constitution of the country, or the principles on which its trade is established.